Royal commission: Abuse still haunts Queensland man four decades on

It came in November this year when the school teacher who molested him while on a school camp, Wilfred Mentink, was thrown in jail.

Mr Johnston, who was just 14 when he was sexually abused, said the vile acts he had to endure still haunt him to this day.

His heart goes out to the thousands of child abuse victims hoping for justice today as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hands down its final report.

“We want action. Really people have to take the attitude [that] it all starts now,” he said.

The damage caused

The former Salisbury High School student easily recalls the frightening school camp trip at Mount Barney in the Scenic Rim, when he and several of his fellow students fell victim to Mentink’s predatory behaviour.

“The teacher proceeded to wander around all weekend naked,” he said.

“Some of the things we witnessed was an abomination at the way kids should be treated by an adult.

Now 55, he would like to stare down his abuser and make him account for what he did.

“Your brain is rewired where you do not know what is going on and have to have years of therapy to get to the point where you can function.

“I find myself with five kids from three different mothers.”

He said some of what happened haunts him.

“You might be a narcissistic man. I do not know why you choose to have relationships with children rather than adults,” he said.

“That is an issue for you mate

“That is something you need to live with and think very deeply while you are in jail about what you have done.”

‘We want action’

Mr Johnston now serves on the Queensland Child Sexual Abuse Legislative Reform Committee and advocates for those affected by abuse.

He said the royal commission had made some people accountable, but not enough.

“People who have covered up this sort of stuff need to be held to account,” he said.

“There is not one person in Australia that I am aware of that has been convicted of concealing these sorts of crimes.

“But I am sceptical that things will change.”

On the final day of the royal commission yesterday, Justice Peter McClellan handed a book of survivors’ harrowing accounts to the National Library of Australia.

“The conjunction of events that the royal commission has examined can only be described as a national tragedy,” Justice McClellan said.

Queensland Child Protection Committee chair Elizabeth Kobierski said those words are not much different to those uttered by then prime minister Julia Gillard when she announced the commission in 2012.

“She called child abuse vile and hideous,” Ms Kobierski said.

“The beginning and the end. Now people have recognised this has been a shocking experience for many young people.

“I notice some 15,000 people have come forward to different ways to tell their stories.

“I do not think that represents all those people impacted or currently impacted.

“This is an ongoing issue that we all have to pay attention to.

“In my strongest words I can say stand up adults, let’s be protective, let’s be aware and make sure our children get the best possible chance they have moving forward.”

Convicted paedophile held in East Timor over child porn

A convicted Australian paedophile has been remanded in custody in East Timor after being found with pornographic images of Timorese children.

Wilfred Mentink, 56, is also facing charges of illegally entering East Timor after defying a deportation order issued in June.

Mentink was arrested by United Nations and East Timorese police last week when they searched his yacht and found nearly 40 items relating to child pornography, including photographs, CDs and two laptop computers.

He was remanded in custody for 30 days by an East Timorese court while further investigations are carried out.

Mentink was jailed for six years in the Australian state of Queensland in 1993 after pleading guilty to child sex abuse charges.

Australian pedophile given 48 hours to leave

A convicted Australian pedophile has been ordered to leave East Timor after a pioneering joint operation involving Australian and East Timorese police.

Dili immigration authorities gave former Queenslander Wilfred Mentink 48 hours to leave the country after he sailed into Dili harbour on Wednesday on board his yacht Loris.

Acting United Nations Police Commissioner Dennis McDermott said Mr Mentink had been turned back after failing to declare his convictions on immigration entry documents.

“It’s a first example of co-operation on this question,” he said. Australian and East Timorese police had been tracking the yacht’s movements before it arrived in Dili.

In September 1993 Mentink pleaded guilty in a Queensland court to charges of having sex with a minor and indecently dealing with another minor.

He received a nine-year sentence, later reduced on appeal to six years, and was released on parole in 1996.

Customs and immigration officials boarded and searched the yacht early on Wednesday, later informing Mr Mentink he could not land because he had made false statements on an immigration entry form.

Bernadette McMenamin, of the child protection group Child Wise, said it was “an excellent development”.

Speaking from Melbourne, she said it pointed to the need for Australia to go further, by obliging convicted pedophiles to report to police before leaving the country, following British practice.

“In this case they have turned back someone who could have seriously harmed East Timorese children, who are among the most vulnerable in the world,” she said. “If there is not closer monitoring, East Timor could go the way of Cambodia.”

East Timorese police are increasingly concerned about pedophile and prostitution rings, whose clients are mainly international.

Paedophile teacher arrested after royal commission referral

Ferris was arrested in July 2015 following a referral from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In sentencing, Judge Hanley said the breach of trust and the 12-year period of offending were aggravating factors.

“[The victims] were entitled to believe he would protect them,” Judge Hanley said.

He also said the crimes were not opportunistic, but planned.

Judge Hanley said Ferris had caused substantial injury and “the impact of his behaviour has affected [his victims’] quality of life” and “handicapped them”.

The maximum penalty for some offences Ferris was facing is 20 years, but Judge Hanley said given the historic nature of the offences it was “necessary to have regard for sentencing practices at the time”.

He cited the “extensive damage” Ferris had caused and the “need for a general deterrent” in sentencing him to 10 years in jail with a non-parole period of three and a half years.

He will be eligible for parole in July 2019.

Another Ben Venue Public School teacher charged following a referral from the royal commission, Ian Berryman, died shortly after his first appearance at court in July 2015.

The mother of two young girls molested by Albion Park Public School assistant principal Mark Forbes says she hopes his lengthy jail term gives him time to reflect on his crimes.

Forbes, 53, was accused of inappropriately touching the girls’ genitals at his Keiraville home in March this year, but repeatedly denied the allegations and elected to take the case to trial.

However a 12-person jury ultimately failed to believe his claims of innocence, finding him guilty of five charges of aggravated indecent assault of a child and one charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child following a five-day hearing in June.

On Tuesday, Forbes was sentenced to a maximum 11 years’ jail, with a non-parole period of five-and-a-half years.

Outside the courtroom, the children’s relieved mother said she hoped the sentence was long enough for him to be rehabilitated, but also expressed frustration that he had not admitted to the assaults, let alone shown any hint of remorse.

“I’m upset he hasn’t shown any remorse,” she said, noting Forbes displayed no emotion throughout earlier court proceedings, or when the sentence was read out.

“He’s been like a block of wood.

“I just hope the sentence is long enough for him to admit he committed the crimes.”

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had previously told the court of the devastating impact of Forbes’ conduct on her daughters, as well as the family as a whole.

“The incident has shaken our sense of trust in people,” she said at the time.

“If you can’t trust an assistant primary school principal who can you trust with your children?”

On Tuesday she said she hoped her daughters’ case demonstrated the importance of victims speaking up early.

“It’s so important for victims to report abuse as soon as possible,” she said.

Convicted pedophile Gary John Riddle goes to school ball

CONVICTED pedophile Gary John Riddle attended a teenage debutante ball at the weekend, outraging parents from Geelong’s Christian College and crime-victim advocates.

People from the close-knit private school were horrified on Saturday night to see the registered sex offender seated at a table with his brother school principal Daryl and extended family just metres from teenage girls, the Geelong Advertiser Reports.

Crime-victim advocates were also shocked at the bad taste shown by the school, calling for an investigation into how a convicted sexual predator was allowed into the year 11 event at the Arena.

Parents are now questioning whether the school breached its duty of care to the students.

Gary Riddle was charged with 14 counts of indecent assault against nine girls aged eight to 16, between 1971 and 1989, and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2002. The assaults took place in his role as a primary school teacher, sports coach and church youth group leader. In sentencing, Justice Alex Chernov said his actions were predatory.

The school yesterday confirmed Gary Riddle was seated at the event with wife Janine, a teacher at Christian College junior school, Daryl’s wife Debbie, also a teacher at the junior school, his brother Stephen Riddle, who is principal of the junior school and his wife Heather, an administration assistant at the school’s middle school campus.